I am just waiting on the call from my nephew to let me know when the rivers will be ready again. I cannot wait!!! If you have not hooked into a Steelie, you really need to give it a try. It took me 30+ hours to land my first one, but it was worth every second.
I was up fishing the Ashtabula River last December when, at the top of some serious rapids, my nephew pointed out a pod of 5 or 6 fish. I tried 6 passes - no bites, he tried 6 with the same result. It was my turn again and with my 4th pass the line stopped and I set the hook. The fish, which I estimate at 28-30", raised his head, looked at me and just turned downstream. In about 3 nanoseconds, he was 80 yards downstream. It was all I could do to hang on. I am 58 and my nephew is 17. At this point he looks at me and says, "Aren't you gonna chase him?" Don't you just love 17 year-olds. The fish was at least 100 yards away and the hooks let loose. WOW! That day in December, I hooked 11, but only landed 3.
I never realized how great the Cleveland Municipal Parks system is. Hats off!

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To Miss Nancy - she hated fishing, but loved a fisherman.

BuckeyeTrouter - I use an old Orvis Clearwater 9' 8wt and an Orvis Battenkill Mid-Arbor which has a great drag. I wouldn't go less than a 7wt, but give the 6 a try. Just make sure your reel has a good drag, probably more important than the rod. I use a Bass taper, but I'm not sure if it makes casting easier or not. I'm usually set up with a 1X or 2X leader and I use fluoro for the tippet. Orvis Mirage is 12.5 lb. test for the 2X. Use Fluoro and go heavy - the fish can't see it. I started by using a bobber, oops, for flyfishing we must call it a strike detector, but as I have more experience I am now going without. When the line stops going downstream - set the hook. I have also gone to using 2 flies - usually a Wooly Bugger (size 6 to 10) on top of an egg or nymph. I don't go smaller than size 14, because I can't see anything smaller.
Be ready to lose a lot of flies and a lot of fish. I thought hookin 11 and landing 3 was pretty sad, but in talking to some old hands, apparently it's not bad. Can't wait for the ice to clear.

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To Miss Nancy - she hated fishing, but loved a fisherman.

I am encouraged to know the salmon can hooked fairly. Maybe we were just there on bad days and the fish were not cooperating. We were fishing a green bodied caddis and I believe a black stone fly in tandem. Our guide did use some egg patterns but I don't know which style they were now. Our guide instructed us to high stick and set the hook at any time the line stopped which makes sense to me. We did not have any rod jerking takes.

We did not see any fish move to take our fly but we sure did see plenty of fish on the redds. You could tell the males from the hens very easily when they were on the redds with the bucks holding just below the hens and then moving in as she layed on her side to deposit eggs. Quite a thing to watch even if we did not catch any in a legal manner. By the way, the snagged fish was released after finding she was hook just behind the head. The one fish I hooked was obviously snagged and I applied enough pressure to pull out the hook.

To be honest, after believing we were only going to snag salmon I became much more interested in fishing for the trout we would occassionaly see holding just behind them. We had the pleasure of fishing Alaska for the first time this year and that was the basic technique we used there. I am still interested in salmon and may give it a go again next fall.

Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. Any time you set out on a new endeavor all the help you can get is useful. By the way Byron, our guide also fishes the PM and I would have loved to fished it also. If we get real serious I may give Chuck Scribner a call.

Tight Lines and Christmas greetings to all, gary <*))))><

I have gone Salmon/Steelhead fishing ~ 50 times. Your guide did not do you any justice. More than an occasional snag is all that should happen. I wonder were you sight fishing while wading or using a boat. Forget the boat and wade the P/M or Little Manistee. Anytime the hook goes over the fish you need just let the line drift past the fish. They snag very easy and if the fish does take the fly you need to abort. If you snag do not play the fish at all! Simply lower the pole tip right at the fish and let the tippet break.

I lived in the Buffalo area for five years and fished the Tribs in that area. I fished the Catturagus, Chataqua and 18 Mile Creek that drained into Erie. I also fished the Niagara River, 18 Mile at Burt, NY along with the Salmon River near Pulaski, NY. If you need info on any those streams let me know.

Big Jim,
I will be in Niagara Falls for work a couple of days next month. Is that too early to get into any steelhead action? If not, do you recommend anywhere in that area?